Mankiw’s Ten Principles of Economics, Translated – by Yoram Bauman

If you’re an economist and you’ve never heard of Yoram Bauman before then today’s the best day of your life!! This man is the funniest economist in history, we kid you not. He is the world’s first stand-up economist and his day job consists of making hilarious economics jokes at comedy clubs. If you ever get the chance to see him live then please do, you’ll never forget it. Anyway, to give you a taste of what he is about here are his translations of Mankiw’s 10 principles of economics.

Mankiw’s Principles – Translated

#1. People face tradeoffs. – Choices are bad.#2. The cost of something is what you give up to get it. – Choices are really bad.#3. Rational people think at the margin. – People are stupid.#4. People respond to incentives. – People aren’t that stupid.#5. Trade can make everyone better off. – Trade can make everyone worse off.#6. Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity. – Governments are stupid.#7. Governments can sometimes improve market outcomes. – Governments aren’t that stupid.#8. A country’s standard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and services. – Blah blah blah.#9. Prices rise when the government prints too much money. – Blah blah blah.#10. Society faces a short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment. – Blah blah blah.